A new "Pants to Poverty" underwear label was launched on Saturday 11th March with a fun stunt to highlight the global issues around trade.

Stripped down to their underwear a large group of trade campaigners chanted "We love pants, we hate poverty!" outside London's Royal Exchange, in the heart of the city. Symbolically the Royal Exchange has been at the heart of London’s Trade since 1571 and the area is full of over-expensive (non-fairtrade) shops.

The Pants to Poverty initiative is a not-for-profit business run by volunteers to raise money for making the clothing industry ethical through giving consumers an ethical choice.

Fairtrade, organic, ethical and sexy, the stripped-down-to-basics stunt was part of Fairtrade Fortnight which started on March 6th.

All of the cotton used in Pants to Poverty is provided by Agrocel Pure and Fair Cotton Growers’ Association. An organisation literally nurturing the roots of the industry, they co-ordinate organic and fairtrade certified fibre cultivation with a group of cotton farmers from the Mandvi area of Kutch, Gujarat in Western India. Due to salinity of the soil, cotton is one of the only cash crops that farmers can grow here, yet for years they were unable to get a stable price for their crops keeping them trapped in the prison of poverty. Now though, with Fairtrade cotton their futures should be safe for the time being.

More:
 http://www.pantstopoverty.com

NB pics are screengrabs from the video upload - ta mr beard!